Montreal International Jazz Festival

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A stage at the jazz festival

Opposite angle of stage view above, July 4, 2005
"Behind Vibe Bars" Vibraphonist Matthias Lupri

The Montreal International Jazz Festival (MIJF, also called the Jazz Fest, in French Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (FIJM)) is the largest jazz festival in the world. It is held annually in Montreal, Quebec during the summer season (usually the beginning of July) and gathers artists from around the world. It is typically attended by over 2 million people who are attracted by the electric atmosphere, diversity of shows and by the city itself. Many parts of the city's downtown core are closed to traffic for two weeks as outdoor shows are free to the public on many stages. Attendance to some shows is over a hundred thousand.

Shows are held in a wide variety of venues, from relatively small jazz clubs to the large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets while others are on terraced parks.

[edit] History

The Montreal Jazz Festival was conceived by Alain Simard, who had spent much of the 1970s working with Productions Kosmos bringing artists such as Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and others to Montreal to perform. In 1977, Simard teamed up with André Ménard and Denys McCann to form an agency named Spectra Scène (now known as L'Équipe Spectra), with the idea of creating a summer festival in Montreal that would bring a number of artists together at the same time.

They planned their first festival for the summer of 1979, but, unable to secure sufficient funding, their plans were scuttled, but they still were able to produce two nights of shows at Théâtre-St-Denis, with Keith Jarrett and a then-unknown Pat Metheny.

The first Montreal jazz festival was in 1980. With funding from Alain de Grosbois of CBC Stereo and Télé-Québec. With Ray Charles, Vic Vogel, Chick Corea and Gary Burton on the bill, and an attendance of 12,000, the event was deemed a success, and has continued to grow since then.